So rather than using magic, I decided I will start to train to control my Maryoku.

But after becoming 4 years old, you needed to look after the younger children.
Conversely, it means I was permitted to do what I wanted after that.
There were three 2- to 3-year-old boys and girls we had to take care of.
And we four 4-year-olds had to take care of them daily.

We were expected to keep them company at the『Nursery』room where there were 2 to 4 year-old children sleeping.
But since all 3, except me, were girls, I let them involuntary take care of the children.
Thanks to that, I could devote myself to improve my control technique on my Maryoku.

I took up a corner of the nursery and recalled the content of El-sensei general lecture class.
El-sensei explained what『Maryoku』concretely was.

Maryoku is the energy that enters a person through soul as its vessel.
The amount of soul to maintain a body—and soul—hardly changes regardless of race.
Maryoku refers to the amount of energy which is contained in the soul except the part that is necessary to maintain the body and soul.

The amount of Maryoku also varies widely by race.

It may be as large as a lake, a basin, or as small as a cup of glass.
And if Maryoku is completely spent, the energy which maintains the body and soul will be insufficient and will cause fainting.

I will faint, since I will not be able to maintain the condition within my spirit and body once I spent all my Maryoku.

If that was the case, then I would start to grasp the total amount of Maryoku and measure how much of it could be used before reaching the limit.

I kept my eyes closed while I focus my consciousness inside.

In the center of my chest, I felt a warm clump faintly.
I imagined slowly pouring that warm light little by little to my right hand; the light moved from thecenter of my chest to my right hand.
There was neither sense of Maryoku consumption, nor fatigue, nor despondency in the body.

I tried to release the Maryoku that I collected in my right hand outside.

「Uoo….」

About half of the light was released.
The body became heavy like after a sleepless night.

Is this clump of light itself the useable amount of Maryoku?

My expectations were probably right—my intuition tells me so.

The next day.
In the『Nursery』room, the girls were looking after the younger children.

I sat at the side of the corner of the room and started my special control training again on my Maryoku.

I closed my eyes and clumsily felt the warm light inside the center of my chest.

I imagined channeling my Maryoku little by little to my right hand.
Yesterday, I didn’t mind it because I only moved it to my right hand but the flow did not go straightforward.
The light was distorted like a straight line painted by a mouse.
The width of the lane was wavy and not uniform.

Is it possible to quickly send a stable amount to the point where I want it?

First, I needed to reach the point where I could freely adjust the width and straighten the flow myself.
If this became possible, then I could quickly send the necessary amount of Maryoku to the point where it was needed.
It would be fair to say that you needed to go that far if you wanted to control Maryoku without interference.

I’m fired up and rolled up my sleeves.
But the training was interrupted by the protests of the 3 girls.

「Lute-kun, you’ll get scolded if you don’t properly take care of the little kids with us!」

The young girl—called Snow—said that as the representative of the girls.

Her characteristics were: a shoulder-long silver hair, pure white skin, dog-ears and -tails. She was also from rare species called White Wolf tribe that was living on the Snowy Mountain of the North Continent.

She and I were childhood friends who get along very well. When we were babies, we were left behind in the orphanage at the same time.

Surprisingly in this world, there were almost no parents that leave a baby without notice behind.

In the orphanage, the children who came here are those whose parents died through illness, accident, war, etc.
It was because of Economic reasons that the other orphanage are full.

Because there were no relatives that they could rely upon, the two remaining girls in our group were brought over at the age of 3 when their parents died of illness and accident.

Snow and I, whose parents left us in front of the orphanage on the same day and were put on the same bed since we were babies, have strong childhood friendship and bonding.
Because of that, we often formed a pair of two.

While remembering that, I excused myself with a forced smile.

「I want to help you all very much but the way you you did is so good that I didn’t get a turn. That’s why I was sitting in a corner so that I won’t get in the way.」

They were really good at comforting the children.
And children were already sleeping comfortably in the bed.

Snow came with unyielding big eyes near my face and pose a demand.

「If that’s the case, then you can help playing house. We have roles enough for the four of us.」
「Playing house?」

When I turned my eyes, the other 2 girls were sitting down in the middle of the room and waited.

「If Lute-kun does not play, I will tell sensei that you skipped work.」
「Even though I didn’t skip it particularly… OK! Let’s play together.」

I gave in when El-sensei’s name came out.
I interrupted my special control training on my Maryoku and sluggishly got up.

「So which role should I take? Father or Master?」
「Lute-kun, you’ll take the role of a pink slime pet!」
「Is that really necessary…?」

I blurted out my reply.

On that day, I continued saying『purupuru』until the girls “released” me.

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

I was made to play house with the girls three days consecutive after doing the role of the pet.
During those days, either I took a pet role as a 『Black and White Rabbit』『Long Bearded Weasel』『Paradise Parrots』etc.

One time, I objected the role of a pet.
But was bluntly overruled.

They play house as noble ladies.
Raising a pet was a fashion sense for the wealthy. That was why they insisted the role of a pet was necessary for me.

A man cannot win against a woman using his mouth whether in the previous world or in this world.
Furthermore, the other party I lost to had three members.
Even though my mental age was over 30, there was no way I could win against them.

But even though I was obediently following them, it did not mean I was being pushed around by those 4-year-old children.

When there was time, I went to the dry river bed near the orphanage and gathered flat stones.
I painted one side with black ink and dried it.
I took an unneeded wooden board and carved a grid of 8×8(64 boxes) on it with a knife.

The 4th time playing house.
The girls requested the usual—the role of a pet.
This time, I came up with a certain condition.

「If any of you manages to defeat me in a game I made using the knowledge from the former world, I will keep the role of the pet.」

『Reversi』was laid before them.

「「「Lute-kun?」」」

The girls voice were in unison as they tilted their head.
Using the board and stone pieces I made, I explained the rules of Reversi to them.

Among Japanese people who knew the game Reversi, there was nobody who did not understand the rules.
It was simple and easy to memorize.
That was the reason why I chose Reversi from the several board games back from the previous world.

As planned, the girls were memorizing the rules immediately.

The first to challenge me was Snow.
Of course, she chose white.

「Snow, you take the first turn.」
「If I beat Lute-kun, he will be doing the role of a golden MaruMaru today.」

What the heck is a golden marumaru…?

Snow is joyfully painting over the black ones.
First, I let her change the black stones to white so that she took some credit.

「Lute-kun, you are we~ak! Even though you made it yourself.」

Snow got caught up in the moment and was under the assumption that she was winning.
The dog ears were twitching proudly.

「Hahaha. Snow, make it funnier if you are going to tell a joke. Snow still can’t do addition and subtraction, how can I lose in this game of intellect?」
「Muuu… I have a feeling I’m being made fun of… Fine! If Lute-kun loses, he has to listen to another order besides being a golden marumaru!」
「As you wish… But if I win, I’ll touch your fluffy dog ears and tail to my hearts content!」
「It’s not dog ears! …It’s wolf ears! Because Snow is from White Wolf tribe!」
「I know… and don’t forget the promise.」

『*deep breath*』Snow who got angry a while ago regained her composure and focused her look at the surface of the board. As usual, she changed black pieces without thinking.

Snow had misunderstood.
Those who had the most same colored pieces are the winner in Reversi.
There’s no point in boasting in the amount of your pieces in the middle of a game.

I had to switch to counter-attack since the white stone were already dominant.
A corner was seized by me and the white stones were changed to black.
Since a corner was seized, Snow could no longer change the color of the stones at that side anymore.
In an instant, black stones dominated the board.

「Uuuu… I lost…」
「Yeah, I won! Don’t forget the promise, okay?.」
「I know… I’ll let you touch it when we’re about to sleep at night…」
「O-ok.」

Snow agreed while she folded her ears down and shyly looked her upturned eyes down.
The figure of her in low spirit was so pretty that I felt shy.

Hey, Snow! The way you talk feels like… you made a lewd promise to me…

「What’s the matter, Lute-kun? Your face is red. Did you catch a cold? 」
「N-no it’s nothing. So… who’s the next opponent?」

I shook my head to drop the dirty thoughts and continued to challenge them.
Snow sulks with pouting cheeks at the edge of my vision.
I did not know the reason to why she was sulking though.

Is it because I won too childishly? Then next time, I will go a bit easier on her…

While I was pondering, I forgot there were two remaining opponents left.
Naturally, I won quite easily like against Snow.

Snow and the others requested to borrow the Reversi after the match.
They had to become strong enough to defeat me so that I could take the role of a pet in their house playing.

So that they could have their chance, I tender-heartedly lend them the Reversi.
The girls had forgotten playing house and started practicing Reversi.

As a matter of fact, Snow and the others challenged me to a Reversi game the next day.
As they practiced, their skill rose fairly well but there were no other opponents on their level they could compete with.

I dared to choose Reversi among the other games because other than『the rules were easy to remember』, it attracted the crowds rather easily.

During my highschool days, I stayed indoors and occasionally absorbed myself in playing casual pc board games to kill time because i had no friends to play with.
Among them, Reversi was the only one where the computer opponent would no longer satisfy me and I thought to seriously attend a regular game.

In the end, I did not participate because of the fear to meet strangers.

Such 4-year-old children, who had little amount of practice, could never win against me. The girls had suffered a crushing defeat against me.
Although my appearance was a 4-year-old child as well, my mental age was about to become 31 by the end of this year!
Even if that was not the case, I was not weak enough to be beaten by a child!

Eh? Why…? Is… water flowing in my eyes?

I was challenged for a few day again but won them all lightly.
Snow and the other girls noticed the difference in ability from the games with me, and no longer came to challenge me. They had more fun playing with themselves.
After putting the children to sleep, Snow and the others were playing Reversi while alternating themselves.

Furthermore, Reversi was even popular among the children older than us.

I noticed that the imitated Reversi board and piece were often played with.

Even El-sensei and the volunteering oba-chans showed interest; the popularity was well received.
Probably because, the rules were easy to remember and was simple enough to do, and anyone could play it.

I, who was suddenly been freed from the role of Snow and others’ pet, could strive again to make an effort for my secret training.
And it took about 30 days to learn moving my Maryoku quickly in a straight line like a thread throughout the body.
When I got used to it, it was unexpectedly easy.

Furthermore, there were things i noticed while training.

One thing I noticed was,『from the mass of Maryoku, it won’t disappear even if a fragment were separated』.
From the mass of Maryoku, I separated a fragment and moved it to the index finger of my right hand.
Then, I moved it to my middle finger, ring finger and little finger.
Unless it was released outside the body, Maryoku will not be consumed even if it movesanywhere in the body.

This technique would also be handy if I wanted to temporarily strengthen a part of my body.

For example, if I wanted to temporarily strengthen my right arm, I needed 3 seconds to cut off a part from the mass of Maryoku and move it to my right arm.
Then I would wrap my right arm with Maryoku.

Another thing is that,『the more strength increases, the more Maryoku is wrapped』.
However, the Maryoku consumption is high by just doing that.
In case you wanted to strengthen it moderately, you only have to use little Maryoku.

After magic control training was finished, I started to study and train the resistance formation.
What I had understood in my study in the resistance formation was: you can simply release the Maryoku in the air in large qualities like a magician with talent.
For example: if the resistance formation was made by pushing the Maryoku out of the right while using the palm as starting point, consumption could be held down rather than draining it out straight in the air.

When I found about this fact, I was amazed. The difference in the absolute amount of Maryoku from those people who are B- rank and above were a class on their own.
They could use the body strengthening technique and resistance formation without reallyworrying about it all.
Furthermore, because they could use attack magic as well, the difference in talent was clear.

I remembered during the time I was shocked to hear that Magician based classes were limited.
The overwhelming wall called talent was like a different world.

One could assume that they are also doing the method to reduce consumption of Maryoku in long duration battles.
But because of the difference in the amount of Maryoku—I was conserving it like someone who was on tiptoes holding a candle for lighting: they could freely ignore like someone who just found a 100-yen discount at the supermarket earlier.

With this, I understand the reason why people that are judged as 『having no talent』 would not be able to overcome the magician rank of B-.
The amount of Maryoku was fundamentally different.

Anyway, by pushing out the smallest amount of Maryoku at my palm, I could release and produce a resistance formation instantly.

I ended up using one year to finish this study experiment and training.

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